Tagged: John Danks

As we learned yesterday, John Danks is missing his start tonight. Luckily it doesn’t seem to be anything serious and this should be the only missed start. The Sox have called up Carlos Torres to face the Rays tonight. Torres has nice numbers in AAA, going 8-4 with a 2.20 ERA. It’s only AAA, but those are solid numbers considering he pitches in a hitter’s park in Charlotte. He will have a tough test against the Rays lineup. Hopefully he can have some sort of edge by this being a last minute change and the Rays not knowing much about Torres.

The Sox sent down Aaron Poreda to make room for Torres. I thought Poreda should have gotten a shot at the 5th starter spot, but he was taken away from pitching regularly and was being used too sparingly. For this reason, I like the move of him going back down and starting again.

Tonight the Sox face James Shields, who is starting to rack up multiple good years in the majors. Shields will throw strikes and he doesn’t give up a ton of walks, so the Sox will have to be able to put a few hits together and play smart to score tonight. The same lineup as last night per beat writer Mark Gonzales’ blog on the Tribune website:

There is no other way to put it. This loss rests entirely on the shoulders of Bobby Jenks. It’s one thing to get hit around. It’s another thing to hit batters and give up walks in critical spots. Unfortunately, the unbelievable outing by Clayton Richard gets lost in the shuffle. More to come later in the night…I need a break after a game like that

Alright, Clayton Richard deserves some more attention. 8 IP, 4 hits, 2 walks, 7 K’s and 1 earned run. His fastball really had some action tonight. I’m not sure if the extra rest helped him. It could also be a matchup factor with the Rays, who Richard performed well against in last year’s playoffs (1.42 ERA in 6 and a third, out of the bullpen). His mentality may have also helped him. This was a big start for both Clayton and the team, and he probably gained some confidence after the Rays came out of the 3rd inning with just one run. Bottom line, Clayton came up huge for the Sox tonight. It’s a shame his start was wasted and the Sox threw away a possible win with such an unlikely performance.

Like I said, all the blame goes to Jenks. Could the Sox offense have done better? Sure, they squandered some opportunities, but Niemann is a great pitcher and in the end, it was a Sox lead in the 9th and Jenks did not do his job. As a fan, I can only hope that this type of game doesn’t have a carryover effect.

A blog post wouldn’t be complete without complaining about an annoying Ozzie Guillen tendency. Again, I hate a pinch hitter being used against a closer, and I hate Ozzie’s obsession with avoiding R/R and L/L matchups. This happened when Nix pinch hit for Getz, even though Getz, a lefty, has a better average against lefties, and Howell, a lefty, has a higher batting average against stat against lefties.

The story of the night is Jim Thome. The big man had 2 HRs, 7 RBIs, and 11 total bases (EDIT: Thome had 8 total bases. I thought walks and advancing on the basepaths were included in that stat. I could’ve sworn an old box score I once looked at included both, but thanks to amick7 for the correction, looks like it’s just bases from hits) , and it couldn’t have happened to a better guy! The offense did its job and has really picked it up in July. This is a great sign considering Carlos Quentin has been out and should return soon. Scott Podsednik continues to be an amazing pickup, getting on base (5 times in 5 at-bats tonight) and setting the table for the big boys in the middle.

John Danks was a bit disappointing tonight. Danks works himself into trouble way too often with walks. Even if he gets out of the trouble, it hurts his pitch count, keeps him from going deep into games, and taxes the bullpen. Danks clearly has the stuff to be a great pitcher, which implies his problems are mental. As I said in one of my first blog entries, I HATE it when the bullpen has to start the 6th. Tonight was a little more understandble since Danks had thrown a lot of pitches and the bullpen just had four days off. The pitching staff gave up too many runs tonight, but let’s not discredit the Orioles. Offense is not Baltimore’s problem, They have a nice mix of young talent (with guys like Markakis and Jones) and veterans (like Roberts and Scott).

Back to Danks…tonight he gave up 2 leads very quickly. This is a good question for any fans of other teams that are reading: Do you feel like your pitchers often give up leads quickly (like the next half-inning)? I’m sure there’s a stat on giving up leads…I’ll have to find it. I’m just not sure if it’s a normal fan feeling (do those moments stick out since it’s such an annoying thing?) or if the Sox starters really do have a problem whenever the offense gets them a lead. Again, this could be another mental issue for pitchers. Most players who make it to the big leagues have the physical aspect down, but need to conquer the mental aspect of the game to succeed. Momentum also plays a big role, and shutting down the other team after scoring is a crucial point during a game.

One more Sox lowpoint: Dewayne Wise. Wise was 0-5 and had a terrible defensive play where he almost knocked himself out by running into the wall. Dewayne Wise, you are no Aaron Rowand.